Corbar Wood, Buxton

 Friday 6th October. A two and a half mile walk.

Another day of uninspiring weather. We took ourselves to the very popular Bookshop cafe for lunch, and then into Buxton.

We parked in the Pavilion Car Park and walked through the streets to Corbar Wood.  

The path goes into the wood and up to the trig point and a large cross. From Explore Buxton website: “This cross was installed in 1950 to commemorate Holy Year…It was painted pink by pranksters in the 1990s and cut down completely in 2010 as part of a protest”

For more details see here

 

Lovely short walk through some steep woodland.

 It was clear on top with wide views. 

Buxton Country Park and Solomon’s Temple.

 Thursday 5th October

Four miles, with Harry. We decide to do coffee at The High Peak Bookstore. Then we go into Buxton and walk from the Pavilion car park to Buxton Country Park.

Grin Low has as its high point Solomon’s Temple, a Victorian Folly, built in 1896 to replace an earlier construction on the site of a neolithic burial mound.

All around are the remains of lime kilns.

Nearby in the shelter of a disused quarry is a caravan site.

Tittesworth Reservoir, near Leek.

 

Wednesday 4th October

Ramshaw Rocks on our drive to Tittesworth

The Iron Green Man, by Jason Turpin-Thomson

A trip out to Tittesworth Reservoir, a couple of miles north of Leek. 

Our first call, even before walking, was naturally for a coffee( a bit weak) and a scone(pretty good). We took a gentle stroll clockwise round the reservoir.  

Gentle, but not entirely flat, mainly through woodland. Four and a half miles, with some good views back to Ramshaw Rocks and the Roaches, which made a dramatic serrated backdrop to the water.  We decided to return to our base for lunch and a large cup of tea.

Weather mainly dull and dry, with some warm sunshine and a very few spots of rain.

Thor’s Cave from Wetton.

The Lair of the White Worm.

Thursday 28th September. With Harry.  Between five and a half and six miles.

We set off from Wetton free car park at 10.45. 

We walked back into the village and up past the church.

When the road turned left we continued straight ahead, following a footpath sign to Back of Ecton.  The track took us past a covered reservoir, the we squeezed through a stone stile close to a very small disused quarry. The path heads slightly west of north to a field boundary below Wetton Hill. Over to the west the spire of Butterton church is visible.

We follow the path diagonally across the field, to another stile, then along the wall for a short section before taking the right hand path heading uphill. Another stile, where we turn right and walk along a muddy path until we reach the road. Someone has a jam stall there, but we resist the temptation.

We turn left along the road, walk uphill , follow it as it turns right then bends left. When the track takes another right turn, we turn left along a footpath, which leads downhill through a dry valley. The hill to our right is the Sugar Loaf.

The hawthorn trees are laden with berries. 

At the point where the path goes through another tight stile to the right (Dale Farm National Trust land here), we decide to have a short coffee break, watching some unusual clouds.

Underfoot is sometimes grassy, sometimes stony. 

We walk through Dale Farm, and on to Wetton Mill, where we justify indulging another cup of coffee and a piece of Bakewell tart. “We have to support places like this!” 

time to move again, so we cross the bridge over the Manifold river and follow the Manifold trail south, crossing at the Dafar Bridge and getting our first sight of Thor’s Cave,

continuing until we reach the footbridge which takes us on to the steep route up to the Cave, at first a paved path with a few steps, then lots of steps, up and up…

Worth every step though, for the rock formations inside and the views over the countryside through the arched entrance.

Quite a few people up there.

We walked the path up to the top of the cliff,

 then went back and took the recommended route across a field and then a walled lane back into Wetton.

We looked back towards Grindon church spire on the skyline.